Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Just a quick note on something that I found interesting. Jays' starter Shaun Marcum pitched a brilliant game yesterday against the Athletics, going the distance while allowing only one hit (a homer to lead off the 7th) and one walk while striking out five. While following the game last night, I noticed that he wasn't throwing his curveball. It seemed particularly odd for him since he's not a hard-thrower. I looked back at his data this morning and it appears that this was the first game all year in that Marcum did not mix in a curveball. His mix of fastballs (straight, cutting, sinking), changeups, and sliders only gave him a range of about 10 mph from 78 to 88; I've also seen him drop the change into the low 70s from time to time, which he did not do yesterday. Marcum hadn't allowed a hit for the first 6 innings, so it might have been a matter of sticking with what worked for the first part of the game.

Gameday data is from MLB Advanced Media. By the way, Marcum's a very interesting pitcher given his ability to change speeds and inability to blow hitters away with his fastball. His repertoire certainly deserves a greater look.